It’s Blue-winged Olive (BWO) Season!
By Frank Landis
TCO Fly Shop and Relentless Fly Fishing Guide
An early March olive eater from last year.
Winter is winding down and looking ahead to the spring season, one of the best fishing highlights of the year is right on our doorstep. The Blue-winged Olive (Baetis) hatch will soon be ubiquitous through much of Pennsylvania. This is the first significant mayfly hatch of the year, and these small reliable mayflies will get trout of all sizes looking up. For me, this hatch is right up there with all of the larger bugs we see as spring progresses. I’m certainly ready to break out the dry fly sticks and cast some small bugs to sippers. Check out some tips and ideas below to help you get ready for this awesome hatch. I also share some of my favorite patterns to cover the hatch at all stages.
Ideal Conditions
Overcast and drizzle in the early spring season should alert you to impending olive activity. This picture screams olives!
So where and when are you most likely to run into BWO hatches? Many of the best known streams in Pennsylvania have notable blue-winged olive hatches that occur in late winter/early spring. Typically, activity is best mid-day when there is considerable overcast or even rainy conditions. Though mild or warmer days will often indicate strong action, warm and sunny is not as reliable of a situation for olives as cool and cloudy. I’ve even seen dense olive hatches when temps are hovering around freezing.
If I could craft the perfect day for a BWO hatch, I’d say sometime later in March, with a low ceiling overcast, some light rain or drizzle, and mild to warm temperatures for the time of year. Obviously, the river and annual conditions could impact when the timing of when this hatch will peak. I have seen great BWOs from late February to early April. You may find less prevalent olive hatches later into the year, and some small variations in the 22-24 range become a little more common in the fall. Though these odd time olive hatches can be good, nothing beats getting into the early season emergences. Pack your rain jacket and seek out the dreary days and you might be rewarded with top notch dry fly fishing.
Fishing Tips
An awesome early season olive eater.
Lengthen your leader. Olives are small, so for more pressured trout, softer presentations and good dead drifts can be critical. My preferred leader for fishing olive dry flies is a 14 ft George Harvey style dry fly leader. This leader is designed to land with lots of slack, giving you superior presentations and drifts. You certainly do not need to go that long to have success, but adding some extra tippet to create a similar effect is a good idea.
Pick your targets. If the hatch is going strong, some of our more densely populated class A trout streams can appear to be boiling during this hatch. When this happens, a lot of people just launch a cast into the middle of a pod of risers, hoping one eats. Though this can work to pick up some fish, you can often get into more, and larger fish by casting to specific targets. Pay attention to rise forms and fish location to target the biggest fish rising in the run. Larger fish will typically not break the surface with a splash and may just expose the tip of their nose while inhaling these tiny bugs. Also, its normal to find the larger fish occupying some softer, unsuspecting pieces of water. If you’re not worried about size, methodically working through a piece of water with some intention will spook less fish if you hit the close ones first.
Break out your dry fly rods. Though euro nymphing and 10 ft rods are becoming more and more standard these days, now is the time to use your shorter 3 and 4 weights to hone in on fishing dries. Yes, you certainly can catch fish on dries using 10 ft 2, 3 and 4 weights with or without fly line, but if there ever was a time to put those rods down for a day, this is it. On the better days of this hatch, it is not unheard of to get many hours of an emergence. I love the accuracy of shorter rods and after a long winter of nymphing and streamer fishing it’s great to cast a line with just a single dry on the end.
Fly Patterns
Below I’ll share a handful of my favorite nymphs and dries to imitate BWOs. Not only are these great patterns for this hatch, but they also are staples in my boxes throughout the entire year.
Dries
Below I’ll share a handful of my favorite nymphs and dries to imitate BWOs. Not only are these great patterns for this hatch, but they also are staples in my boxes throughout the entire year. Plus I've included the fly tying materials you will need to get started.
Baltz’s Paranymph:
This pattern, created by Relentless guide and fly tying legend Tom Baltz, is my go to for almost any mayfly situation, and is especially good for olive hatches when tied in smaller sizes. This parachute pattern rides low in the surface film and is easy to see because of the high vis post. The standard post color is orange, but on cloudy low light scenarios that olives often frequent, a yellow post is a great option.
Hook: TMC 100 Size 16-20
Tail/Shuck: Olive Brown Zylon or Similar Yarn
Body: Hares Ear Dubbing Natural (should include guard hairs)
Post: Calf Body Hair Stacked
Hackle: Grizzly
CDC Comparadun/Sparkle Dun:
This is my go to olive pattern to tie olives in the tiniest sizes. The ease of tying a CDC wing compared to other materials and methods can’t be overlooked. . This is not to say that this isn't a great pattern to tie in larger sizes as well, but it shines when going small for simplicity’s sake. For as easy as a tie as this is, it is also an extremely accurate looking imitation for adult olives.
Hook: TMC 100 16-22
Tail/Shuck: Olive Brown Zylon or Similar Yarn or Coq De Leon Fibers
Body: Fine Olive dubbing or Quills
Wing: Dun or Grey CDC Feathers
Hackle Stacker BWO:
Though a bit trickier to tie than the other patterns on this list, the Hackle Stacker olive is a staple in my boxes. The reason for this is because it looks considerably different from a lot of other patterns people carry, so I find it very useful for pressured trout to give them a fresher option than the typical offerings.
Hook: TMC 100 Size 16-22
Tail: Coq De Leon FIbers
Body: Fine Olive Dubbing
Hackle: Grizzly or Dun
Nymphs
A simple V Rib can be taken for a small caddis, larger BWO or any other nymph a trout might see in smaller sizes.
Iron Lotus:
Originated by Lance Egan, this is a great nymph pattern that combines both attractive and imitative qualities. It is not a particularly difficult pattern to tie, but if you include all of the steps it takes a little longer to complete compared to the patterns below. Of course, you could simply eliminate some steps if you prefer. For example, You could skip the wing case and still have an effective pattern.
Tail: CDL
Body: Olive Thread
Rib: White Thread
Thorax: Olive Dubbing
Wing Case: Black UV or Black Tinsel
Hot Spot: Red Thread
Bead: 2.3 mm Gold Tungsten
Hook: Umpqua 450 BL 18
V Rib:
This is as simple as it gets, simply thread, Vinyl D-Rib and a bead. This is one of my most productive patterns and it doesn’t get much easier to tie. This pattern has all of the advantages of a perdigon without worrying about a UV cure. It is hard, durable, fast sinking and minimalist. You can alter the color combinations to fit your needs, and you will find various thread and rib combos can give dramatically different looks. You can add a tail and dubbing if you want, but trust me when I say it is largely unnecessary.
Hook: Umpqua 450 BL 16
Bead: 2.8mm Gold Tungsten
Body: Vinyl D Rib Brown Midge Size
Thread: Chartreuse
France Fly:
This is a massively popular fly amongst competition anglers for good reason. It gives a great small mayfly profile and is easy to tie in smaller sizes. Simply add a BWO color scheme in the appropriate size and pretty quickly you have a nice baetis nymph imitation.
Hook: Umpqua 450 BL 18
Bead: 2.3mm Black Tungsten
Body: Stretch Tubing Brown Olive
Thread: Olive or brown
Dubbing: Olive or brown hares ear dubbing
Tail: CDL Fibers
Thanks for reading! If you need help finding some BWOs to fish, shoot us an email or a call and we will put you in the best situation we can to take advantage of one of the best hatches of the season.
-Frank Landis
Instagram: @frankflyfishes
Email: franklandisflyfishing@gmail.com
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